What is Fibro Feelings?

I’ve been under a little more stress lately, with the loss of a friend, sickness of a family member, preparing for a big trip, out of town visitors and local guests, making sure I have all the posts that I need, along with life’s usual stressors. I wouldn’t say that I mentally feel stressed out since I’m an organized person, but my body sure does! I’ve been sleeping even worse than normal (I only got a few hours of sleep last night), my upper and lower back and  left shoulder have been hurting consistently and my wrists and left knee have been more easily aggravated, thus hurting more than normal. I’ve been having more constant, dull pain and also getting more shooting pain and pins and needles like pain. I’ve also been dropping items out of my hands more and having more tummy issues (cramping, getting sick) because of my IBS.

It can be difficult not to add even more stress by being mad at my body for not being able to keep up with all the tasks I want to get done in the time frame I want them done. Over the years, though, I’ve learned that I need to be cognizant of what is going on in my body, make as many adjustments as possible, and keep moving forward. Being an organized person helps me get through this.

For each major task, like preparing for a trip or visitors, I keep a to-do list. Each time I look at my list I evaluate how I’m feeling and what type of tasks would be best for my body to tackle. Then I start getting things done and crossing them off my list. Doesn’t crossing things off a list always feel good? I usually start using those lists ~2 weeks in advance, so by the time the list needs to be finished I’ve usually managed to get most of the things done. I may have approached the list 50+ times at that point.  If my body is not feeling enough to do some of the remaining tasks I then decide if they really need to be done and if they do, I ask The Helpful Hubby to do them.  Luckily, he almost always obliges!

(I wrote this just before we left for our Switzerland trip)

I always have a list going